Project Gutenberg 2006-12-15 Public domain in the USA. 510 Frazer, James George 1854 1941 Frazer, Sir James George Frazer, J. G. (James George) The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume 1 (of 3) The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, David King, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/) from page images generously made available by the Humanities Text Initiative (http://www.hti.umich.edu/), a unit of the University of Michigan's Digital Library Production Service "The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume 1" by J. G. Frazer is a scholarly treatise on anthropology and religious studies written in the early 20th century. This first volume focuses specifically on the beliefs surrounding immortality and the cult of the dead as observed among aboriginal communities in Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea, and Melanesia. The work delves into the profound influence that these beliefs exert on human life, seeking to elucidate their origins, practices, and cultural meanings. At the start of the text, Frazer outlines the scope and methodology of his lectures, which were originally delivered at St. Andrews. He introduces the historical method of inquiry into religious beliefs, distancing his approach from dogmatic or philosophical discussions. The opening portion lays the groundwork for exploring the concept of immortality, emphasizing the necessity of understanding primitive religious ideas. He discusses how various communities perceive death, the afterlife, and their dead, positing that the worship of spirits is a universal aspect of human culture that has persisted through time. Frazer also highlights the need to study these primitive beliefs as they are rapidly fading in contemporary society, with the aim of preserving knowledge about humanity's shared past. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 65.0 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read. en Immortality -- Comparative studies Ancestor worship -- Oceania Funeral rites and ceremonies -- Oceania Burial Oceania -- Religion Oceania -- Social life and customs. BL Text Australia Anthropology Category: Archaeology & Anthropology Category: Religion/Spirituality 1691557 2025-08-08T11:57:22.017136 text/html 1643829 2006-12-15T17:08:17 text/html 653650 2025-08-08T11:57:57.822950 application/epub+zip 672611 2025-08-08T11:57:33.081082 application/epub+zip 641579 2025-08-08T11:57:27.648124 application/epub+zip 1332714 2025-08-08T11:58:10.842891 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1251353 2025-08-08T11:57:50.544004 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1030883 2022-09-09T12:51:21.819164 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1294661 2025-08-08T11:57:18.030676 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 1294106 2006-12-15T17:01:04 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 1294244 2006-12-15T17:01:04 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 22520 2025-08-08T11:58:11.009892 application/rdf+xml 23609 2025-08-08T11:57:28.432095 image/jpeg 4385 2025-08-08T11:57:28.027091 image/jpeg 464747 2006-12-15T17:01:04 application/octet-stream application/zip 519862 2006-12-15T17:08:58 application/octet-stream application/zip 464471 2006-12-15T17:01:04 application/octet-stream application/zip 616215 2025-08-08T11:57:22.119137 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia